Tag Archives: brighten your look

Post navigation

Despite being a solid 18 degrees outside in lovely Chicago, 2 days ago was the first official day of spring. So, in order to keep my sanity in a city that more closely resembles a tundra than any beautiful image of greenery and flowers and growth that the word ‘spring’ conjures up in the mind, I have chosen to engage in something called ‘reality control’ (George Orwell’s 1984, anyone?) and try to force myself to see the beautiful reds of the flowers, green of the trees, blues of the lovely ever frigid lake Michigan (which I maintain looks just gray when it’s cold outside, but, okay, reality control). In order to maintain that mindset during this period where the trees look like something out of a bombed out post-Apocalyptic world and the only green I see while running down the lake shore path is provided by Whole Foods bags caught on the spidery branch fingers of the very barren trees, I have decided to surround myself with the warm weather colors by infusing my outfits-and especially my accessories, with them like these coral, turquoise, and green jade necklaces below. If the red, turquoise, and green weren’t bright enough to help me think warm weather thoughts, I complete each of them using sunny bright yellow gold brass chains and findings with a satin gold finish.

To access the above listings in the lakeshore lavaliere online shop ***THE GREEN JADE NECKLACE WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR SALE LATER TODAY ….. Just Click the Pictures!

OR

Go to etsy.com/shop/lakeshorelavaliere to browse the different shop sections/ inquire about a custom order:If you have any questions, or would like to make a request for a custom order while browsing the lakeshore lavaliereonline shop, Etsy convo me by clicking ‘contact’on the left hand side of the page

I don’t know what it is about tropical climates that makes me want to make wrap bracelets, but last week I was in Florida, and since there is nothing to do at night for people under 100 years old, several of my nights were spent making new wrap bracelets. I decided to make a few of them longer than the 3 wraps that I previously had done, and with the others, I decided to play around with the boilerplate version of the wrap bracelet by alternating between different sizes and shapes of the beads from wrap to wrap. I know that wrap bracelets are fairly popular, and I wanted to make the lakeshore lavaliere wrap bracelets completely unique– different than the other ones out there!

50 Shades of Green 5x Wrap Bracelet

This bracelet alternates between a variety of different gemstones (jasper, agate, aventurine, jade, unakite), fading from sequence to sequence with different shades of greens. There is also some brown tiger’s eye gemstone and red jasper threaded in to break up the greens and add a pop of color. This is the longest wrap bracelet I have ever made, and because of its length, it doubles as an long beaded necklace that looks awesome paired with a simpler gold chain necklace.

Obsidian & Purple Jade Triple Wrap Bracelet

This bracelet has 3 wraps, the 1st and 3rd of which are divided equally in half between two colors. The first wrap is divided between a sequence of faceted white jasper beads and a sequence of violet jasper beads. The third wrap is 1/2 faceted deep purple jade and 1/2 light purple jade. These two layers add a shock of color, and frame a solid layer of larger deep black obsidian cube beads. I love the purple black and white color combination- this bracelet really stands out!

Elephant Blue Jade Gemstone Double Wrap Bracelet

Here I used a larger size bead (8mm) for both wraps than what I usually use (~6mm), and is a great simple piece for when you don’t want a wider bracelet on your wrist. Woven in amongst the sky blue jade beads, is a pattern of beautiful silver pewter pewter beads culminating in the adorable silver pewter elephant button closure, that both highlights the blue of the gemstones, and adds unique variation to break up the continuous stream of blue.

Style Tip: Wear a double wrap bracelet stacked with other bangles to add that extra pop of color!

Green Lemon Jade & Jasper Gemstone 4x Wrap Bracelet

This quadruple wrap bracelet features 4 layers of green lemon jade gemstone beads between layers of black greek leather cord, the first and 4th of which are 6mm, and the 2nd and 3rd of which are 8mm gemstone beads. The vivid combination of silver and lemon jade green beads starkly contrast with the shock of black provided by the leather cord.When worn, the 1st and 4th layers frame the 2nd and 3rd layers and place the focus on those center two wraps, which are raised due to being slightly larger in size. When looking at the bracelet on your wrist, the combination of 6mm and 8mm beads makes the bracelet seem like an autostereogram(one of those optical illusion pictures that once you stare at for a while, creates the illusion that it is 3D), even though it really is 3D to begin with. The lemon jade beads are accented by patterns of different silver pewter spacer beads, ending with a silver tree of life button closure. It is the 2nd longest wrap bracelet I have ever made!

Turquoise Tube Bead & Faceted Tiger’s Eye Gemstone 3x Wrap Bracelet

This triple wrap bracelet features two layers of faceted tiger’s eye gemstone beads framing an eye catching & contrasting layer framing a bold turquoise tube bead center wrap. I love how the brown faceted tiger’s eye round beads frame & accent the turquoise tube beads, it really causes the turquoise to stand out (which I love because turquoise is my favorite gemstone to work with and my favorite color.)

To access the above listings in the lakeshore lavaliere online shop….. Just Click the Pictures!

OR

Go to etsy.com/shop/lakeshorelavaliere to browse the different shop sections/ inquire about a custom order:If you have any questions, or would like to make a request for a custom order while browsing the lakeshore lavaliereonline shop, Etsy convo me by clicking ‘contact’on the left hand side of the page

Soooo I couldn’t resist making an Ombre Wrap Bracelet with all of the different shades of green gemstone beads that I have in stock. I thought the different greens of the jade, aventurine, and unakite, gemstone beads would look great and give this bracelet a unique look as they faded into each other. Each set of 9 gemstone beads flows into the next set getting increasingly lighter like the ombre look. This lakeshore lavaliere ombre wrap braceletis a great unique & bohemian accessory to add to any look.

To access the listing in the lakeshore lavaliere online shop….. Just Click the Pictures!

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching-and by request I decided to make a Valentine’s themed ring. The design features the iconic image of the symbol for love and all things sweet- perfect for Valentine’s Day, the heart. Hand stamped on a brass disc which I then soldered to the brass ring base with two blown glass red beads and 4 brass spacer beads, this ring has a romantic and cute little image of two linked hearts,

Simple and sweet, this ring is a great accessory or gift for Valentine’s Day!

To access the listing in the lakeshore lavaliere online shop….. Just Click the Pictures!

Oversized pieces of jewelry are great when you need to accessorize a boring outfit, feel like making a bold statement (and for a multitude of other reasons) but, sometimes a smaller more delicate looking piece is better suited for your outfit or look. I wanted to make a necklace that was smaller in size, but still had a bohemian vibe and of course, made a statement. Since there are not too many lakeshore lavaliere necklaces that are delicate yet bohemian, I decided to make this turquoise and brass graduated pendant necklace. This turquoise & brass graduated pendant necklace is the perfect accessory when you want to make a statement but don’t want to wear a large piece of jewelry to do it. Elegant and simple, the necklace still has a bohemian feel and catches the eye with the beautiful turquoise color of the 13 pendants and the way they contrast with the simple satin brass chain:

To access the listing in the lakeshore lavaliere online shop….. Just Click the Pictures!

Today’s post is allll about bib necklaces– after making the turquoise and coral bohemian bib necklace to spice up my blah outfit choices during this bleak Chicago winter (ignore that yesterday was 65 degrees outside…I have faith that later today or tomorrow it will be frigid and bleak and drop back down to the single digits) I really fell in love with creating different pieces in this style. Each bib necklace can be completely different despite the fact that they all essentially are a combination of several layers of bead strands of increasing lengths. They can be loud or even muted depending on the color, they can be bohemian but also classic (i.e. silver accents with pearls)- there are so many different options to create a necklace like the two lakeshore lavaliere bib necklaces below by starting with the same design.

Turquoise, Onyx & Pewter 5 strand Elephant Bib Necklace

Jasper, Jade, and Brass 4 Strand Bib Necklace

Different gemstones, metals, pendants and bead combinations make each one completely unique and change the way any necklace highlights or accents an outfit, but with a type of necklace that is as large as a bib necklace, the colors and components really do shape the style of your outfit or the statement that it makes. Funky and loud or muted and classic, I think bib necklaces might be my new favorite style for 2013.

To access the listings in the lakeshore lavaliere online shop….. Just Click the Pictures!

The most popular selling items on the lakeshore lavaliere online site are the monogrammed hand stamped rings,

and I was recently approached by a friend who suggested I should make a bracelet version of these rings- so I decided to do just that! While I will soon offer a brass disc cuff bracelet, the first bracelet of this kind is a hand stamped heart cuff bracelet- which I of course made in honor of the fast approaching Valentine’s Day holiday:

To access the listing (for the rings or the bracelet) in the lakeshore lavaliere online shop….. Just Click the Pictures!

Recently I realized that I’ve been wearing a lot of black-I tend to gravitate toward a nearly all black wardrobe in the Chicago winter months, and I know I’m not alone. I have been thinking about what type of necklaces are the best accessories to spice up an all black outfit, and I landed on the style of necklace called a bib necklace. Oversized with eye catching details, they can spice up a boring outfit and add that pop of color that it needs. I decided to make this one using raw brass and 4 graduated layers of turquoise chip nuggets and free-form coral with brass accents:

I just love how the turquoise and coral look together; this necklace has exactly the amount of color to accessorize a colorless outfit and make sure it looks anything but boring!

To access the listing in the lakeshore lavaliere online shop….. Just Click the Pictures!

This week I am on vacation in sunny Florida- which, I have to say, is such an amazing change from the dreary subzero Chicago weather that I left behind. I wanted to spice up my warm weather wardrobe with some brightly colored accessories, so I set out to make myself a bracelet and a necklace. If you’ve read my blog before you probably know that I have an obsession with turquoise, so that was the gemstone & color I decided to go with. I realized that my turquoise pieces usually incorporate brown and gold, so I decided to go with a silver elephant button and black leather cord for the wrap bracelet, and a sterling silver chain and monogrammed disc for the necklace:

love them as a set!

To access the listing in the lakeshore lavaliere online shop….. Just Click the Pictures!